Snow-cleaner for car-tracks.



J. M. MOORHOUSE. SNOW CLEANER FOR GAR TRACKS. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 15, 1911.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

COLUMBIA PLANOOR'APN COuWASHlNGTbN, D: 1:v

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

SNO1IV-CLEANER FOR CAR-TRACKS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN MILFORD Moon- HOUSE, of the city of WVinnipeg, in the Province of Manitoba, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Snow-Cleaners for Car-Tracks, of which the following is the specification.

The invention relates to an attachment to cars for cleaning the snow and such light material from the tracks.

The object of the invention is to provide a simply constructed, inexpensive, durable and efficient device of the above class, which can be controlled entirely by the motorman within the car, and which will avoid the ne cessity of keeping a person at switches and other such points for removing the snow.

The invention consists essentially in combining with the present air reservoir, with which cars are usually equipped, a series of pipes leading to nozzles located above and directed toward the car tracks, there being a controlling valve located in the pipes so the air can be blown through either one of the nozzles as desired, the parts being arranged and constructed as hereinafter more particularly described.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a car equip ed with my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts supplied on the car, the car being shown in dotted outline. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed vertical sectional view through the oint made between the pipes and the nozzles. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view through the three-way valve employed. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view through the lower end of one of the nozzles.

In the drawing like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

1 represents the body of the car carried on suitable trucks 2, the wheels 3 of which are mounted on the track rails 4. The vestibule of the car is located at 5.

6 represents a compressed air reservoir, which reservoir is at present provided on all cars equipped with air brakes.

7 is a pipe leading from the head of the reservoir to a valve casing 8 located in the vestibule and fitted with a three-way valve 9 controlled by the action of a lever 10,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 15, 1911.

Patented Oct. 31, 1911.

Serial No. 633,418.

} which lever is placed so as to be within convenient range of the motorman.

For convenience in explaining the operation of the device, I will notate the openings in the valve by the characters a, b, and 0.

Pipes 11 and 12 lead from the side of the valve casing downwardly through the floor of the car where they are turned backwardly and bent so that their extremities appear directly above the rails and inclined to the same. Nozzles 13 and 14 are secured to the extremities of the pipes by couplers 15 which thread on to the enlarged ends 16 of the pipes. Packing material or gaskets 17 are inserted between the outwardly flared endsof the nozzles and the enlarged ends of the pipes to insure against leakage of air. The nozzles have their lower ends flattened and flared as shown at 18, and partitions 19 appear in the'flattened ends and form small openings or holes 20 through which the air is freed to the atmosphere.

The operation of the device is very obvious, as it is simply a matter of the motorman turning the lever 10 to one side or the other to cause the compressed air to pass from the reservoir to one or other of the nozzles 13 or 14 through the valve openings a and 0 or those 1) and c, whereit is directed to the tracks and sweeps the snow from them.

It will be seen that if every car in passing a switch during a snow storm would blow or sweep out the track at the switch, there would be no difficulty experienced in manipulating the switch point or frog. Further, cars would not become stalled on account of the wheels not gripping the rails owing to snow lodging on the tracks. At any point where the motorman sees snow accumulated on the track, he would only have to blow it off and the car wheels would grip firmly.

What I claim as my invention is:

The combination with a car, a compressed air reservoir carried by the car, car wheels, and track rails on which the wheels are mounted, of a valve casing, a three-way valve within the casing, a conveniently located lever connecting with the valve and controlling the movement of the same, a

pipe leading from the casing to the i'eser- Signed zit Winnipeg, in the Province of von', pipes leading from the casing to Manltoba, this 7th day of March, 1911. points above the track rails, and nozzles coupled to the ends of the latter pipes and JOHN MILFORD MOORHOUSE' inclined to the rails, said nozzles being 10-- In the presence of cated in advance of the car Wheels, as and G. S. ROXBURGI'I,

for the purpose specified. J. K. ELKIN.

Copi s of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

